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Flights at Geneva’s international airport will be grounded for four hours on Friday morning due to a strike by workers, an airport spokesman said.
“Based on this information, airlines will decide whether to maintain, cancel or delay their flights,” spokesman Ignace Jeannerat told AFP, noting that no flights will take place between 6am and 10am local time.
Some 8,000 passengers would be affected, the spokesman added.
Last week The Local reported that the public service union SSP said employees of Geneva international airport, Switzerland’s second-largest, would undertake industrial action that would disrupt air traffic, unless their demands were met.
At stake in the dispute is the new compensation policy promoted by the airport’s management.
According to the SSP union, the new policy seeks to eliminate employee bonuses, and allows the demotion of workers based on their behaviour.
It added that it already informed major airlines of the plan, so they can “divert their aircraft to other destinations.”
A strike would completely paralyse the airport, through which tens of thousands of passengers travel each day, as services such as baggage handling and security checks would have to be ceased.
As a result, planes will have to be grounded.
“We must ensure that our movement has the greatest possible impact,” the SSP’s spokesperson, Jamshid Pouranpir said last week.
The aviation industry has been keen to avoid a repeat of the chaos seen at European airports last year.
The sector struggled to cope with a surge in travel as it was severely understaffed after laying off thousands during the Covid pandemic.
Passengers faced huge lines, misplaced luggage and flight delays.
Other European airports and airlines have also faced worker strikes.
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